The Echo of Thunder

Much of this movie revolves around Judy Davis' Gladwyn and her teenage stepdaughter Lauren Hewett's Lara. Gladwyn is a tough woman in a tough environment, both location-wise and family-wise. The family is working hard to eek out a living in a land full of natural dangers. She has to watch over and protect her own three kids plus now she has her husband's first child whose mother has just died leaving her to her dad. Gladwyn isn't too friendly about the situation with Lara and while you can respect her toughness, she isn't going to fill you with warm fuzzies.

Lara is no slouch. At first it looks like she is going to play the woe-is-me card and act selfishly. Certainly her step-mom and oldest stepsister, Pearl, don't make it easy for her. The metaphorical slaps to her self-esteem keep coming through much of the movie. The second sister, Opal, though, takes to her giving her a meager lifeline. Lara also finds what appears to be a stray dog whom she boldly claims is "mine". Pearl through jealousy creates a real problem for her but later repents. Through all this, with two steps forward and one back most of the time, Lara perseveres while showing deep down that she is capable of a strong and loyal love and a toughness of her own.

I didn't like Gladwyn, but as I mentioned, I usually respected her. I started to really like Lara and rooted for her.

The acting is mostly good, except possibly for the one dimensional villain and neighbor boy Gawd.

In broad terms the movie is predictable, but getting there has some small surprises.